


Lawsuit

by ByTheDawn



Series: 300challenge [19]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-04
Updated: 2014-04-04
Packaged: 2018-01-18 04:29:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1415167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ByTheDawn/pseuds/ByTheDawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of the #300Challenge, based off of the title prompt. During their custody battle, Regina and Emma give in to each other one more time, perhaps opening themselves up for a second chance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lawsuit

“Emma! Please, can we talk?” Emma groaned, burying her head further into the collar of her leather jacket, jaw setting as she quickened her step. The clicking of high heels chased her into the alleyway as she took a shortcut away from the courthouse, mind fried by today’s events.

“Emma!” Regina’s voice repeated, and angrily, Emma flung her body around, hands shooting up. 

“Regina, for fuck sakes, we aren’t allowed to talk. We are in a _custody battle_. If my lawyer finds out you’re even within a hundred feet of me outside of the courtroom, he is going to kick my ass!” She growled out, pulling herself to a halt as Regina slowed her step, head down but dark eyes firmly on her. Emma had spent the last two hours secretly sneaking glances at the brunette from across the aisle and had determined she looked shitty as all hell, but up close, she looked even worse. The eternal guilt that gnawed at her intensified as she took in dark bags under the brunette’s eyes and the slumped shoulders that used to show pride and strength.

“I’m sorry.” Regina said, slowing and coming to a halt on expensive heels that Emma remembered taking off of her feet countless nights. She forced the memories aside as she raised her hands to the sky a little. 

“For what? Jesus, Regina, we’re done. We’ve been done for months now. The divorce went through on the fourteenth, and we are _trying_ to settle things for Henry—something you are actively fighting me on, by the way. You don’t owe me anything anymore, and I sure as hell don’t owe you anything either.” Emma spewed. The brunette was driving her nuts—absolutely nuts—and she just wanted to be done and walk away. Fighting with the brunette she had once loved beyond anything in the whole God damn world was wearing her down. She wasn’t eating, wasn’t sleeping, and still the one that suffered most was Henry.

“I just… Please, Emma, don’t do this. Don’t take Henry from me—don’t… don’t leave.” Regina’s voice was full of anguish and Emma felt a stab to her heart at the sound of it. At the same time, her anger flared.

“ _Now_ you’re fighting for us? _Now_?! After I tried and failed for _a year_ to get you to come with me to see a marriage counsellor, after I tried for so long to get you to open up to me?! _You_ pushed _me_ away, Regina, not the other way around. You are the one who chose drugs and God knows what else over me and Henry. I tried with you, okay? I tried! And you left me hanging. I did what I had to do, getting Henry out.” Emma accused, closing the gap between them until she could jab a finger at Regina’s chest, who flinched but took it without rebuttal. Her hands were still in her pockets, her head still down. The only thing that had changed were the tears that now stained her face.

“I got clean.” Regina vowed, and Emma rolled her eyes. “A month now. I go to meetings; I’m doing the steps.”

"You've said that before, and I'm not about to make the same mistake twice." Emma answered angrily, but inside, she was mostly tired. Tired of the lies, of the pleading, of the marry-go-round of hell that was loving Regina Mills and letting her go. 

"I can't do this anymore, Gina... We… shouldn't be talking." She added lamely, soaking in the brunette a moment more before stepping back two paces and turning around. She made it another five steps before heels clicked into motion. She had expected that, but not to be grabbed roughly by the arm and yanked around. Before she could voice her protest, cold and dry lips pressed down upon hers as a hand wrapped into her hair with force. She gasped, heart rate spinning out of control, and felt her mind go blank. She should stop this, pull away, punch Regina square in the face and leave her on the pavement—but Regina had always been _her_ drug of choice and falling back into her addiction was too easy to do. If she was going to do it, though, it was going to be on her terms. 

The force with which Regina's back hit the brick wall knocked the wind from her lungs and broke the press of lips. Panting, Emma forced her lower arm flat across Regina's chest and brought herself close enough to the brunette to feel her laboured breathing on her own skin.

"Is this what you want, Regina? Huh?" She ran her free hand forcefully up the inside of a stocking-clad leg and felt hot need pool at her core when Regina whimpered, shifting so she could part her legs. "Do you want me to fuck you? Here, in some alleyway? Is that what we’ve become?"

"I want _you_!" Regina confessed, her eyes damp with unspilled tears. She didn't fight the crushing hold Emma still had on her, nor her exploration.

"What is this? Punishment? If I hurt you, it'll somehow make up for what you did to me? Because—" Regina surged forward as much as she could, then, seizing Emma's mouth in a bone crushing kiss that Emma moved into with equal force. She quickly seized control, forcing her tongue past willing lips and teeth to collide with Regina's as she forced her harder back against the wall. When her hand was stopped by the flimsy fabric of the stockings that ran the length of Regina's legs, Emma's arm left Regina's chest and slid down to join its partner between Regina's legs. She made short work of the fabric, tearing at it until she had made a hole big enough to force her hand through. She didn't care about the damage, didn't wonder if Regina's skirt was long enough to cover her to get home without embarrassment. Regina wanted this and Emma had to admit that some form of punishment _did_ , indeed, feel good. It was petty but there it was.

Regina was one of the best kissers Emma had ever had the privilege of kissing, but right now, everything was wet with saliva and tears. They were uncoordinated and rough, tongues and lips and teeth sliding against each other without grace or patience. Regina's arms came up to cling to her, wrapping both around her neck now as Emma pressed her harder against the wall, keeping her trapped with her body as Regina squatted enough for Emma's hand to push under expensive underwear that Emma had at one point enjoyed getting show in great detail on a body dancing to the music that would serve as background noise for their lovemaking minutes later. Now, she never laid eyes on the actual material of them; she only cared about them not getting between her and her target.

"I hate you." She spit into an open mouth as her fingers slid into sticky warmth, and Regina moaned, kissing her again and again as her hips undulated against her hand. It was the desperate need with which Regina clung to her that did Emma in: when they had still been together, Regina would never have let Emma fuck her in some dirty ally, but here they were. To chase away the demons, Emma twisted her arm and forced two fingers deeply inside of the woman who had once been everything to her. A cry tore from Regina's lips at that, head cracking back against the wall and the winch of pain that broke through her bliss urged Emma on to set a frantic pace, aided by the leg that she forced between Regina's.

“I fucking hate you so much.” She repeated, but the tears that streaked down her face without permission weren’t spilled out of hate; they were spilled out of broken promises, of betrayal and pain, out of fear and shame and love that was cracked and bruised and trampled upon but still glowed strong in her chest. She sank her head onto Regina’s shoulder, trailing her lips over her neck and breathed in the familiar scent that she missed so very much.

“I love you…” Regina’s voice was small and desperate—as desperate as the motions of her hips and the nails that dug into Emma’s neck. The words ghosted over Emma’s ear and only served to intensify her tears—and the roughness of her thrusts, causing Regina to moan deeply.

“Don’t.” She warned, but Regina didn’t relent.

“I miss you… I miss us… I’m s-so sorry. So sorry. Please…” Regina panted, and Emma bit down onto soft skin, using her thumb to rub roughly over Regina’s clit to hurry this along—to make this about sex again, not emotion. It worked, Regina cried out in a mixture of pain and pleasure and lost control over her motions completely, sagging further down the wall as her legs gave out. Emma used her body weight and the leg between Regina’s to keep her up as she expertly worked her ex-wife to her height. It was easier when Regina didn’t talk. It made it easier to indulge the memories of the years they had spent together, raising their son. It made it easier to drown in Regina and forget—if only for a moment—about what they’d had and lost. 

Regina came silently, breath stuck in her throat as she froze, then lost all the strength in her muscles, trembling as she clung to Emma, who barely managed to hold her up. They held each other for long moments as the silence set in as breaths evened out, getting more oppressive by the second as they remembered what they were to each other now—no longer lovers, no longer together, but fractured and broken. When Regina’s weight lifted from Emma’s leg, she withdrew her fingers and felt Regina shiver. It was a stab to the heart, the subconscious reaction so familiar that it brought home once more what they were _not_. She still waited until she was sure Regina wouldn’t crumple to the ground before she stepped back, trying to smooth out her clothes without soiling them with her stained fingers.

“This doesn’t change anything.” She assured Regina, but she could feel the doubt clawing at the back of her brain, the font of emotion she had suppressed bubbling once more with the most dangerous of them all: hope. Regina wasn’t looking at her, instead, she busied herself with her clothes, tearing the stockings the rest of the way off because they were already ruined past the point of salvaging. She looked even worse than before—her mascara now streaked down over her cheeks and the ruby red lipstick she’d been wearing was smeared beyond simple repair—but at least she wasn’t so pale anymore. Who was Emma trying to kid, though? To her, Regina would always be the most beautiful woman on Earth.

“I know.” Regina answered, her voice barely above a whisper. Pained eyes finally met hers, and Emma stared into them for long moments, examining the depths of them for answers to her inner turmoil. There weren’t any, but she found herself smiling lightly, regardless, if only for a moment. Regina mirrored her expression and finally straightened fully, tearing herself away from the wall on legs that still seemed somewhat weak. Pride flared in Emma’s chest at that—another reminder of the past when she had gotten to know Regina’s body better than the brunette knew it herself. She wiped her lips in the hope Regina’s lipstick would miraculously come off.

“I’ll see you in court.” Emma answered after another long moment of silence and Regina nodded, hands once more slipping into her coat pockets as she watched Emma go. The blonde waited to hear the sound of heels again, but it never came, at least not while she was still in earshot. Sighing, she rounded the corner and stuffed her now dried hands into her pockets as braced herself for another night of memories and heartache… but this time, she had Regina’s scent on her fingers, and that treacherous hope flickering to life inside her chest. If Regina managed to stay clean, if she gave her the time she needed, if she—so many ‘if’s’, and Emma hated herself for hoping for them to become reality. She hated herself for wanting Regina back, but no matter what had happen between them in the past, Regina would always be the love of her life and Henry’s second mother. If Regina managed to pull herself together… _if_ … then she would give in to the burning desire to be with her again, for Henry and for herself, because without Regina, she wasn’t complete—and she never would be.


End file.
